Council Makes A Correction - Mayor Appologizes For His Error
Mayor claims he didn’t vote properly due to antics of a speaker at the February 13th Council meeting
By Robert Thomas
It was a humble Mayor Clive Tolley apologizing at the start of Monday's regular Council meeting for a series of voting errors he made at Council's February 13th meeting.
“I made some errors and did not conduct the proper vote I apologize for that. I was in a hurry I suppose and do the due diligence at the time,” Mayor Tolley said.
The Mayor was apologizing for a series of seemingly forgetting or not voting on three key bylaws necessary for the construction of the proposed South Hill joint use school.
The voting faux pas was first reported locally in last week's Rhino's Ramblings.
Mayor Tolley said because of his not voting properly there needed to be a fix.
“It’s a reminder to me to make sure I’m very deliberate and methodic in this role and because I caused these problems by not doing things properly our madame City Clerk (Tracy Wittke) has done some research and has provided an opportunity to provide some clarification and some direction.”
That direction required a series of identical revotes to what was intended to be cast on three bylaws at Council's February 13th meeting.
The Solution???
Sitting in a different location in the Council Chamber City Clerk Tracy Wittke read out Administration's recommendation. The move to a new desk allows her to have a clear view of how Council votes.
City Clerk Tracy Wittke had a new seat for Monday's Council meeting - MJ Independent photo
The Clerk is required to record any abstentions and needs a clear view. Her former seat meant two councillors were seated behind her.
“As you are aware the Cities Act does not specify Robert’s Rules Of Order or Bourinot’s Rules of Order,” the City Clerk told Council.
It should be noted the City's initial response to MJ Independent's questions inferred Robert’s Rules Of Order applied.
When further questioned at that time the City agreed they did not.
At Monday’s meeting Wittke said the Cities Act did allow a municipality to have a Procedure Bylaw and this is where the rules should be found.
“Hence the City's Procedure Bylaw section 31 refers to Bourinot’s Rules of Order of Parliamentary procedure,” she said, adding privilege allowed members to correct inaccuracies.
She said “Administration recommends that the minutes of February 13th, 2023 be clarified.”
To clarify the minutes Council had to re-vote every vote taken regarding the three bylaws exactly as they had voted at the February 13th meeting.
Councillor Heather Eby - who missed the February 13th meeting because she was on vacation in Mexico - was not allowed to vote on the clarification votes and had to leave the Council chamber.
Councillor Eby was however allowed to vote on the third reading of the three bylaws because they did not receive unanimous support at the February 13th meeting.
In order to pass at a single meeting a bylaw must have unanimous consent on its Third Reading something they did not receive at the February 13th meeting.
Councillor Dawn Luhning clearly voting for a motion. Something she had likewise to Mayor Clive Tolley did not do at the February 13th meeting - MJ Independent photo
After the clarification votes were completed Councillor Eby returned to the Council chambers.
The Third Reading of all three proposed bylaws occured later in the agenda.
So What Caused This???
Asked at the post Council media scrum what caused his voting errors Mayor Tolley said it was due to being flustered by the antics of serial Council speaker Michel Labonte.
Labonte, a regular Council speaker during the Mayor Fraser Tolmie Council, came out of hiatus to address Council on February 13th with his opposition to the proposed joint use school on South Hill.
Michel Labonte addresses Council from an earlier meeting- MJ Independent file photo
“I was quite flustered by Michel Labonte. He was crying and screaming and falling down and I got, yeah he threw me off my game,” Mayor Tolley replied.
“Michel was very emotional and cried and screamed and he fell down once and he flustered me a little bit and when we were doing the votes I counted enough we had three people for and two against so I was four and so that would be four (votes) to two (votes) so I said carried,” Mayor Tolley said.
Bylaws’ Third Reading
Later in the meeting - with Councillor Eby now able to vote Council voted 5 - 2 in favour on the following bylaws:
Bylaw 5680 - Street and Lane Closure Bylaw - Councillors Dawn Luhning and Kim Robinson opposed.
Bylaw 5681 - Exchange of Dedicated Lands Bylaw - Councillors Dawn Luhning and Kim Robinson opposed.
Bylaw 5682 - Zoning Bylaw Amendent - Councillors Dawn Luhning and Kim Robinson opposed.